The original Spider-Man film may be twenty years old, but its star is still as relevant as ever. Tobey Maguire has trended on Twitter for months now as Marvel fans continue to hold their breath in anticipation for his potential appearance in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Marvel has unsurprisingly kept the film closer to the vest than ever, but that hasn’t stopped the internet from forming all kinds of juicy theories.
In case you weren’t aware (spoiler alert!), the teaser trailer for No Way Home finds Tom Holland’s Peter Parker begging Doctor Strange to erase the ending of Spider-Man: Far From Home, in which Jake Gyllenhaal’s Mysterio revealed Spider-Man’s identity to the whole world. Doctor Strange agrees, and when the spell goes awry, the Multiverse is born, bringing with it a lineup of former foes. With more than one Spider-Verse in play, it’s expected that Holland won’t be the only Peter Parker to appear in No Way Home. Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, who assumed the role for five films between them before Holland was cast as the MCU’s Parker, are expected to help the newest Spidey battle what fans have deduced are the Sinister Six.
The fusion of all three Parkers in the same film, especially after the success of the Oscar-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, is one of the most exciting prospects in MCU history and almost instantly guarantees that No Way Home will be the biggest box office success of 2021. This hinges, of course, on the increasing spread of the Delta variant and whether or not movie theaters will be forced to close again as we head into winter.
Maguire is already getting slammed with jokes about being the oldest of the Spider-Men, which could have hilarious results if Marvel spins his appearance in the film that way. There is one other thing he might get roasted for, if and when the three Spideys all stand together side-by-side: His height.
How tall is Tobey Maguire?
Other than the ones you might find deep in a South American rainforest, spiders tend to be tiny little guys. Similarly, Maguire does not have an intimidating stature: The actor stands at 5′ and 7.75” tall. Despite his size, he had no problem holding his own against the Green Goblin, Doc Ock, Venom, and the Sandman in his trilogy of Spider-Man films.
Then again, Maguire is 46 now. Is he really up to the task of battling some of the same old foes he thought he’d already vanquished? That’s enough to give anyone a midlife crisis. Garfield, on the other hand, is 38 and Holland is only 25. They could do more of the heavy lifting if Maguire has trouble keeping up.
Is Maguire the Shortest Peter Parker?
Unless a teenage Miles Morales who hasn’t hit his growth spurt yet pops up in No Way Home, then Maguire is indeed the shortest Spider-Man, but not by much. At 5′ 8”, Tom Holland is only a quarter-inch taller than Maguire. Then again, Holland is also the youngest, and therefore the least likely to pull a muscle while battling the likes of Jamie Foxx’s Electro. Garfield is the tallest Spider-Man at 5′ 10”.
As we await the second trailer for No Way Home—believed to be the one that reveals Garfield and Maguire’s involvement⏤all we can do is hope that the Marvel gods make our dream come true. Even if it means that the Multiverse makes it impossible for all three Spider-Men to ever go back to normal life. We can relate, Spideys. We can relate.